With this chapter we enter into new section of the
text that examines a number of components that all religions seem to
have in common. Obviously, all religions will have some sort of
concept of the nature of the divine. Yet, the concepts vary widely
since each religious tradition has its own concept of what the
Divine is like. In this unit, we will summarize in broad categories
some of the concepts of the sacred.

Polytheism

Polytheism can be defined as the
recognition and worship of more than one god or goddess.
Typically, in each deity has authority over a specific realm of
nature. Moreover, it is often the case that while individuals
recognize the existence and power of more than one deity, they may
be primarily devoted to the deity most closely connected to their
class, occupation or culture.

While the pantheon of polytheistic religions can include hundreds
or even thousands of gods, two deities that are almost always
present are the Sky God and Mother Goddess.

The Sky God

As the name implies, the Sky God is generally
associated with the sky and the life-giving rain that comes from the
sky. In some cases (especially in traditional African
religions), the Sky God may be a powerful creator, who has
essentially withdrawn from the day to day events of gods and human
beings. In other cases, the God functions as the ruler of the
lesser gods. In this monarchical polytheism, the Sky God is capable
of impacting and intervening in the affairs of both divine and
mortal beings. An obvious example of a Sky God is the ancient Greek
God, Zeus According to Greek mythology, Zeus dwells in the sky and
uses thunder and lightning as his weapons. In addition, he is
the most powerful of the Greek gods and rules over both human beings
and the gods.

Mother Goddesses

In almost every polytheistic religion,
there is a Mother Goddess who is the most prominent of the
goddesses. She is associated with fertility and the change of
seasons. In many cases, her death or seasonal journey to the
underworld is the cause of the death of vegetation each year.
When she returns to life or leaves the underworld, the vegetation
and new life appear on the earth.

One prominent example of the Mother
Goddess is the ancient Akkadian Goddess, Ishtar. Ishtar
was the goddess of sexuality and fertility. According to Sumerian
mythology, Ishtar journeyed to the underworld in a vain attempt to
bring back her lover Tammuz. Although she fails to bring Tammuz back
to the land of the living, she makes arrangements to spend six
months out of each year with him in the underworld. These six
months correspond to fall and winter. Her return from the
underworld corresponds to spring and summer.

The Ishtar myth has
its counterpart in the story of the Egyptian goddess Isis, the
Anglo-Saxon goddess Ostara and the Greek goddess, Persephone.

Feminine Aspects of the Divine

As you text notes, not all goddesses are Mother Goddesses any more
than all gods are Sky Gods. In fact, in all cultures,
goddesses can play a variety of roles including warriors,
destroyers, healers, etc. In Hinduism, sakti is
the name given to the feminine sacred energy. This energy is
manifest in a variety of goddesses with a variety of different
roles.